Epoch of the Promise: Dawn Unseen

by Raina Nightingale

All the dragon Camri knows is that life is dying. In a bid for immortality, she sets out on a rampage of torment and conquest.

When Cassian and her play-mates explored a cave, they woke a tormented dragon, twisted with unnatural powers. Now Cassian is bonded to Camri as a rider is bonded to a dragon, even while Camri destroys all she knows and loves. There is nothing she can do except try to appease Camri, but sometimes Camri’s atrocities are so horrible they drive Cassian to a defiance she always regrets. Punished by the death and torture of the people and dragons she loves, Cassian wishes to die, but is kept alive by Camri’s magic.

When no kingdom or wizard has been able to stand against Camri, can Cassian see the Promise of relief when it stares her in the face? Or will she commit the greatest of her bonded dragon’s atrocities by her own hand?

“When twilight gloom has turned to darkest night, watch for your hope, the long-awaited Promise, for it is in the darkest and coldest of night that the Morning Star rises.”

516 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2020

About the author

I have been writing fantasy since I could write stories with the words I could read (the same time that I started devouring books, too). I now write “slice of life” and epic dawndark fantasy, for fiction lovers interested in rich world-building, characters who feel like real people, and spiritual experiences. I think giant balls floating in space can have the same magic that fairytales teach us to look for in oak trees and stars. I have a lot of universes and while not all of them have giant balls floating in space, most of them have dragons of one sort or another!

Reviews

[J..B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich and Imaginative

I had a specific goal in reading “Knights of the Promise”, so my review should not be taken as well-rounded. Though not a Christian or member of a faith, I look for sincere authors relating what they see as true about a relationship with the Creator. I read mostly Christian works. It was suggested to read this book, and I found it truly unusual. I now have an inkling, better than mere poetic fancy, of what authors of the Christian Old Testament meant when speaking of Adam and Eve walking in the garden with the Creator, or of Elijah going out to worship because he heard a small whispering sound and “the Lord was in it.”

This book touched upon my interest in a way I found more relatable than other works. Though I am not quite sure why, here are my thoughts. Imaginative stories speak to perceived reality in a way that both non-fiction and philosophical writings do not. Though I was speed reading, which I don’t recommend doing, the characters came off as “real”. I found their struggles and the changes in each of their relationships with the Creator somehow authentic, even touching, though I would not claim such experience personally.

One thing I found difficult was complex sentences. I found them exhausting, though perhaps from reading too quickly.

Here is a list of my choice books for those with interest like mine. C.S. Lewis’s “Perelandra” is a beautiful tale. It is my favorite so I put it here even if not quite in category. More poetic books are C.S. Lewis’s “Til We Have Faces”, and George McDonald’s “At the Back of the North Wind” – a children’s book with great depth. For a “solid” book, see “The Pursuit of God” by Tozer, though I don’t truly grasp it. Therese of Lisieux’s little way in “The Story of a Soul” is more relatable.

I wanted to avoid saying “great book – buy now”, and I think I have succeeded while still saying there is something very unusual here. After reading it, I have largely paused reading while digesting it, much like being stuffed after an American Thanksgiving meal.

I found the book so intriguing that I have cross posted this review.